Guest Blog Post - Why chiropractors are so important for horse well-being

In today's Guest Blog Post Mathilde Kvernland, shares with us her experiences of using an Equine Chiropractor on her horse Baldur and the benefits that treatment can bring. Mathilde lives in Hamar, Norway with her pure bred Icelandic horse, Baldur.

Over a year ago, I had my first experience of using a chiropractor on Baldur. You could say that is has opened up a whole new world for me. There was chatter in the barn about a chiropractor coming to visit, and I chose to get a checkup on Baldur, just to make sure that everything was fine.

When the day came for the chiropractor to visit, I was very excited. I had never experienced something quite like it. It was at this time I had owned Baldur for almost a year. I am the kind of person who wants to ensure that everything is ok. When it was Baldur’s turn to get a treatment, I watched closely and asked a lot of questions. It turned out that Baldur had some issues connected to the fact that his back is so long, so he needs a checkup from time to time. After the treatment I ended up with a completely new horse, Baldur was a changed horse! He started relaxing immediately, and not least, I felt a big change in his gaits – especially walk. He went from having a short, “hard” walk, to being so soft and really longing his strides. That half an hour could make this much difference! And I felt ensured that my horse was feeling good.

What Baldur struggles with the most, is locking in the croup that makes him skewed. Now, for the last two months, I have had two chiropractic treatments on Baldur. It turns out he was actually having a lot of after-pain from the time we both hit the dirt this winter, but he has done a very good job at hiding the pain, so I never knew. Harriet, as my beloved chiropractor is named, treated him at the end of May this year and she came back a few days ago for a follow-up. Baldur has started using his body more correctly, resulting in more muscles in the right places, and his body was looking so much better in comparison to the treatment in May. So yet again, I am ensured that my heart horse is okay.

But I wanted to use this blog to underline how important it is to check that your horse is doing well body-wise. By my own experience, it can be very hard to even understand that the horse is walking around with pains. Horses are flight animals, and if a predator saw a horse showing signs of being hurt, it would be easily targeted. This is why many horses hide their pain, from instinct. So I would recommend to do a check-up, even if the horse doesn’t seem to have any pain. It doesn’t have to be pain either, it can be discomfort resulting in the horse not using itself correctly.

I would also like to issue that it isn’t just any person that should be treating your horse. Be conscious of who you hire to treat your horse. Does this person have proof of their education? What type, how much and where was the education taken? It is important to be very critical to whom you chose to treat your horse. If it is someone who isn’t skilled, it can do more harm than use.

“But my horse doesn’t hurt!” How do you know that? Your horse can’t simply tell you that he is hurting or if something is wrong, and many horses don’t even want to show that they are hurting at all. Baldur was “normal” when I decided to give him his first treatment. But what I thought was normal for Baldur, wasn’t normal at all. After experiencing first hand how much of a difference it made to my horse after just one treatment, I don’t think I will ever stop giving him these treatments, because I have experienced myself how big of a difference it makes.

Having chiropractic treatments on your horse doesn’t just help if your horse has discomfort, it can also help to prevent injuries that could arise at later occasions. Prevention is so important, because when the damage is already done, it is suddenly gets way more expensive to fix. I would dare claim to say that chiropractic treatments works almost as an insurance to prevent damages based on muscles and bones. If you have an opportunity to prevent damages on your horse, I would definitely do anything in my power to ensure that my horse is going to be sound both now and in the future.

I would absolutely recommend all horse owners to have at least one treatment on their horse. If you are sure about the well-being of your horse, check anyways, if you haven’t already. It is extremely important that the horse body is sound for the horse to be able to function optimally and to perform their best. And for all the reasons in the world, prevent if you can!

Finishing off this post with a picture of Baldur and his beloved chiropractor, Harriet.

A note from Suzanne: Thank you so much Mathilde for sharing your experiences with us! It has been great to read about the benefits that an Equine Chiropractor can bring as we personally don't have experience of using one ourselves. It is definitely something we will look into in the future.

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